They are just dogsMATT WEBER - Staff Writer Can anyone tell me why ex-Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick is still in prison? It has been a year since his sentencing, so allow me to quickly remind all of you how he got there in the first place: he killed eight dogs by means of drowning, electrocution or beating while also gambling on the dog fights.

For those killings, he was sentenced to 16 months in jail (14 if he shows good behavior) and he was up to lose almost $120 million in salary and endorsements. He eventually got his endorsements back, but still lost around $20 million in pay.

All of that happened to him for killing eight dogs.

Really?

Why does society put dogs on such a higher level than any other animals? We consider them human when they should be considered what they are: the property of the owner. When a dog does its business on another person's lawn, the person doesn't yell at the dog, they yell at the owner. An owner gets to decide what they do with their property and if Vick chooses to fight his dogs, then so be it.

Personally, I would never choose to fight my dog and it is not like Vick is taking my dog and using it to fight without my consent. Vick's dog fighting organization, Bad News Kennelz, only fought dogs that were chosen by their owners to fight. They weren't fighting dogs against the owner's will. If that were the case, then I would totally understand there being a problem.

Because "man's best friend" is put on such a pedestal, it clearly didn't matter what dogs were being tossed into fights. The fact that there were cute little dogs fighting each other made people turn against Vick.

Comedian Daniel Tosh adds a very humorous opinion to Vick's dilemma.

"I've wanted to kill a human today; I've never wanted to hurt your dog. Vick could have killed six thousand cats and people would have been like, 'You know they're overpopulated, right?' " he said.

Speaking of overpopulation, I guess deer can be killed off left and right and everyone is OK with that. When the Vick trial first started, I asked several people why they thought deer hunting was alright while Vick's dog dilemma was such a catastrophe.

The majority of the answers included the words "because deer were overpopulated." Clearly, the only humane way to decrease the deer population is by shooting Bambi in the face. Tranquilizers won't do the trick, you need the deer to feel it, make him know what hit him.

Another response after my rebuttal was, "some people eat the deer meat after they kill them." So basically, if Vick had eaten the dogs after they were killed, it would make everything ethical, right? If it is all right to chow down on deer, it is only right that dogs can be used as sustenance, too.

I always like to consider this event as an indirect action considering this affects no one on a personal level. Let's be honest, I guarantee the first thing the jury thought when they heard what the case was about was, "Aw, poor dogs."

That's the problem: our culture sympathizes with dogs more than it does humans. Vick lost almost two years of his life and money I could only wish to make because of the lives of eight dogs. Think about it.

Two years. $20 million. Eight dogs.

Ridiculous.

At the end of the day, Vick is a really hard guy to defend because the rest of society is against him. No one cares about how small of a deal this really is.

When you step back and look at the big picture they are just dogs.

It's as simple as that.

Never make someone a priority in your life when that someone treats you like an option.

Chris Rock was on Letterman last night, I just caught part of it, but he was comparing Palin and moose hunting to Vick and dogfighting...why was one so bad and one just fine? Talk about Asshats...I used to like Chris Rock too.

"I don't have any idea if my dogs respect me or not, but they're greedy and I have their stuff." -- Patty Ruzzo

"Dogs don't want to control people. They want to control their own lives." --John Bradshaw

TheRedQueen wrote:Chris Rock was on Letterman last night, I just caught part of it, but he was comparing Palin and moose hunting to Vick and dogfighting...why was one so bad and one just fine? Talk about Asshats...I used to like Chris Rock too.

Yea, in his new HBO special he does a routine about that. I think it's a ridiculous compairson to make. Hunters make sure that the deer, moose, elk, etc.... die quickly. A dog fight is a slow painful death for the loosing dog, and even the winning dog comes out cut up.

Dolphins LB Joey Porter says the NFL should open the gates for Michael Vick when he completes his federal jail sentence for a conspiracy conviction related to a dogfighting ring.

And, while noting that Vick's punishment should not linger, Porter offered a different explanation for why the league should reinstate the suspended QB.

"All it was was dogs," Porter said to ESPN. "They act like they don't even like pit bulls anyway. That's the funny thing about it if you want to get back on that topic. I got pit bulls, I got to put them under a different breed just to travel. So you can't even fly pit bulls nowhere.

Blogpitbull "It's a breed they don't care about. It's not like he was fighting cocker spaniels or something that they like. They don't really care too much about pit bulls."

Dolphins DE Vonnie Holliday also said the league should reinstate Vick, but with a less controversial reasoning.

Holliday pointed to the apparent reinstatement of Cowboys DB Pacman Jones, which the team has announced but the league has yet to confirm, as a precedent for Vick's return.

"Certainly, if a guy gets in trouble repeatedly, which crime is bigger?" Holliday told ESPN. "I don't know. I think [Vick] should get an opportunity to have a second chance. Here's a guy who I think he did a lot for the league, certainly, when he was in Atlanta. He did a lot for that organization."

he has pit bulls but he doesn't really care too much about them?

"The American people have spoken, and they have spoken clearly." - John McCain

I don't agree with his reasoning at all, but I "think" the point he was making about not caring was in regards to society in general.... that THEY don't really care about pit bulls - that if they'd been fighting cocker spaniels more people would have been outraged. Before that sentence he talks about having to cover up or lie when flying his dogs because of their breed so as stupid as he is on some points here, he's making a point about the plight of the breed. I think. I'm maybe giving too much benefit of the doubt.